DALLAS — Jeremy Lin didn’t hesitate with an honest answer when asked if he feels like an All-Star.

“Uh, no,” he said softly after another choppy performance Wednesday night as the Houston Rockets lost for a fifth consecutive time, unable to claw all the way back from 15 points down despite several chances late to go ahead.

Lin nearly redeemed a poorly played game with a 14-point fourth quarter, but he missed one of his two free throw attempts on two critical trips to the free-throw line in the final two minutes. A badly executed pass in the paint with Houston down three with 14.9 seconds to go for his fourth turnover essentially sealed a 105-100 victory for the suddenly surging Dallas Mavericks, who have won four in a row.

“If I could hit a free throw,” said Lin, who was 6-for-10 from the stripe, “it’d be nice.”

It’s been that kind of season for Lin with the Rockets, who also happen to be the host for the Feb. 17 All-Star Game at Toyota Center. While it’s James Harden — unable to salvage his own brutal shooting night with an aggressive fourth quarter that ended with two failed drives to the rim — who can make a strong case for consideration to be an All-Star starter (although he doesn’t have the fan votes), it is Lin who is being afforded the possibility.

If enough Linsanity fans on at least two continents stuffed the All-Star ballot boxes in the final weeks of fan voting that ended on Monday night, the ex-New York Knicks player and the first American-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent could be an All-Star starter for the West while bumping MVP candidate Chris Paul to the bench.

Starters for both conferences will be announced Thursday night (7 p.m. ET, TNT). At last count two weeks ago, Lin was in third place among West guards, well behind Kobe Bryant, but only about 46,000 votes behind the Clippers‘ sensational Paul. CP3 is averaging 16.8 points and ranks second in the league in assists and first in steals, while pacing his team to a 30-9 record.

“That’s the furthest thing from my mind, to be honest, being on a five-game losing streak,” Lin said after finishing with 19 points and four assists, numbers that blurred a five-point night on 2-for-9 shooting through three quarters. “I don’t even care right now, I’m just trying to get a win.”

The Rockets dropped to 21-19 after racing to a season-best seven games over .500 on January 8. They have a deficient defense, but a team-oriented, jet-pack offense that has challenged West-leading Oklahoma City all season as the league’s top-scoring outfit.

Lately, the offense has sputtered and Lin, averaging 12.3 ppg and 6.3 apg this season — and shooting an abysmal 27.6 percent from beyond the arc — hasn’t matched any of those numbers during the skid.

If Lin sneaks past Paul as a starter, the West coaches who pick the seven reserves will have CP3 at the top of their lists. But a deserving guard among a slew of them producing at an All-Star caliber — from Harden to Russell Westbrook to Tony Parker to Jamal Crawford to Stephen Curry to even rookie Damian Lillard — will unfairly be left off the 12-man roster.

Such is the risk of a fan vote, and especially one that draws from an international fan base.

“I would say I’m doing OK,” Lin said. “But I know I’m capable of more, I know I’m better than what I’ve shown throughout the first half of the season.”

Hardly the tone of an All-Star.

Which is why Lin never hesitated with an honest answer to the question.

As a going away gesture…it was done as a method of respect to his health situation. To compare that with this is completely ridiculous. Lin should not be in the All Star game…

The All Star game is NOT a popularity contest. Its a gift and a accolade given to players who have shown a great deal of skill throughout the first half of the season. Fans often times ruin this by abusing their power to vote and just go for their favorite player…which is why i wouldn’t be too far against the idea of removing the fans privilege to vote. People have to stop thinking like fans and understand that its also a type of award. Because of Popularity style voting people like Blake Griffin, Jeremy Lin and Kevin Garnett are getting starting nods over players such as David Lee, Zach Randolph, Tyson Chandler or Russell Westbrook. Its not fair to them as players who work hard and deserve to be acknowledged for their great play. As far as the arguments go in regards to Chinese also voting for Carmelo and Lebron….well…THEY ACTUALLY DESERVE IT…trying to use them in a sensible argument to battle the notion that the Chinese aren’t possibly stuffing the ballot box for Jeremy Lin is ridiculous. I’m not saying thats whats going on….but it is logical and has happened before with Yao….but at least Yao was worth the vote…Not Lin.

its so much fun to watch lins play, he deserved to be all star, definately. great player, best court vision just like s nash.
cant wait lin playing all star , he should be a starter, in front of cp3,
clippers cp3 doing good this year but nuthing exciting doing the cp3, just old same old cp3. we want new frsh and excitement, thats what nba all star is all about.

Why dont they change the starters being voted on performance and the bench from fan votes…. David Lee i think deserves a go, but Howard is getting in the team and he’s either injured or playing half hearted…..

YES, LIN has not played well this season and he knows it.
does he deserve to start?…well that is up to the FANS.
only asians vote for LIN … perhaps
what about all the asians that vote for kobe,l ebron, d-wade, etc?

LIN if you are reading this (i didn’t vote for you). i think you are a GOOD player but you can be better. PG is not a position you are use to playing and you seem to be transitioning better now into that role under Mchale leadership.

You People judge Lin too harshly just because you’re mad he could potentially take the starter position. As many said its a popularity contest. Get over it. Lin’s good, not the best may never be but his ceiling is certainly higher than what he’s shown us so far. I’d give him a full season with a good role before judging him. Even Harden shows signs of struggle adjusting to being the face of a franchise rather than a backup. Those two could be a dangerous combo if they develop the right chemistry

THIS GUY IS A JOKE!! A PRESS INVENTION FROM NEW YORK!! NEVER HAD DE CALIBER OF AN NBA PLAYER, LETS SEE IF HE EVOLVES!! BUT NAAAAA, NOT AN ALL-STAR YET!! LIKE SOME OTHER FELLOWS WHO HAVE BEEN IN AN ALL-STAR GAME BEFORE!! OVERRATED!!

Lin is really only getting the votes from his fan base in Houston and Taiwan. He’s not very big in China as players like Kobe Bryant and CP3, who are more likely to get votes from the Chinese fans. Truth is if Lin were as popular in China as he were in Taiwan he would of overtaken Kobe Bryant from the very start in terms of votes.

I wish he would’ve made this statement months ago so he could’ve save every one time on who the PG for the west will be clearly Kobe, Durant, Griffin and Howard secure their spots but the PG is still uncertain.

JLin do your thang hommie forget what anyone says. The fans voted for him and that is what the is about. Who cares what y’all think, this dude earned every thing and nothing was giving to him. My black people need to lay off on Lin, he is a baller and good dude.

I don’t vote for Pompous idiots no matter how good they are. If you’re not LeBron, you’re nobody.
Nobody in the NBA deserves to be an All Star unless the fans vote you in.
If you can’t be a model citizen of the community who million and millions of kids (and adults) expect a higher standard, then you really don’t deserve to be in the NBA, less an All Star player.

Americans giving me jokes. The comments arguing that only americans should vote. (facepalm). The NBA is big because of its international support and merchandising.
As much as it would be a shame that some players miss out on all stars or CP3 (MY favourite player) may not start, Being an all star is about who the players want to see. If a large amount of the NBA fan base (chinese/british/whatever) want to see Lin play. They get to see Lin play. Simple.

At the end of the season it would be players like CP3 who would be making it into the NBA 1st Team and not undeserving fan favourites.

Note. Lin needs to stop making them mistakes. You can see he is a great player. But some of the shots and turnovers he makes annoys me. He knows he’s better than that too.

I voted for Jeremy Lin because i like his styles of playing basket ball. It was beautiful and made me forgetting my headaches. NBA is entrainment and J Lin is people’s choice. There may be great shooters out there, but boring to spend my time to watch them. That is that.

Let’s be honest, the All-Star Game is just a show. A fun game for the fans where stats and results don’t really matter. Rightfully or not, the league offers the fans the chance to create THEIR team, so be it. Fans wanna see Lin in the mix, so be it. It might be his only appearence to an All-Star Game (again, only future will tell). Paul was and will be an All-Star again, no doubt about it. So, who cares if Lin starts, really? Because he doesn’t deserve it? I don’t think so. I think it’s more of a success story that tells us that the underdog can make it. What’s wrong with that? He’s humble enough to aknowledge that he does not earn his place in the All-Star. We all know who the best PG is, numbers and standings don’t lie. The league asked the fans to choose, so get over it and enjoy the game.

i’ll say this: The all star game isn’t about who is deserving enough to start. It’s about who the fans want to see play in the game. That’s really it. It’s a big popularity contest. I’ll vote for Lin because I enjoy watching him play (usually). If the question was “Based on the season thus far who deserves to play in the all-star game?” then I’d agree and say Lin doesn’t deserve it but people don’t understand the real question being asked by the NBA is “Who do you want to see playing at the all-star game?” I’m going to say JLin every time. Lastly, if anything blame David Stern for opening up voting to Asia.

His name should have never made the ballot, and I’m not targeting Lin because if people wanted to you could see Mario Chalmers in a All-Star game. There needs to be a set criteria for pts, ast, reb, blk, stl +/- rating for NBA players to even make the ballot. Otherwise change the name from All-Star to NBA Fan-Favs.

I am not Asian. My family and I are huge NBA fans. We love Jeremy Lin. We were and NY and saw it happen. He is not perfect but he has great potential. That is not why we love him. He is Rocky, Rudy and every American underdog that got a chance and gave his heart. He is a fine young man. This is not about race, it is about bringing love and inspiration to the American Dream and bringing audiences to the NBA as a result.

Thats ridicoulous, Lin is no where near All Star level, he is average at best as a PG and the all star voting system is awfull, i like Lin alot but sorry thats just not fair to the others who are better players than him and really deserve that all star spot.

better not blame the NBA All-Star voting system, Jeremy or the fans who voted for him. the NBA is kind enough to let the fans vote. respect everyone’s vote. don’t judge their votes based on statistics. If I’m a Jlin fan or kobe fan or curry fan etc I would definitely vote for them with no doubt because they are the ones I want to see play. who are you to judge anyone’s votes? there’s no criteria in voting. its a freedom of choice. you have to deal with it and respect it because everyone has their own opinion. no matter what the result is, respect it and enjoy NBA all star game. don’t cry because the one you are voting for doesn’t get the chance and don’t criticize the one who was voted in because that does’t make u a better.

I have NO PROBLEM with ANY all-star starter the fans vote in, regardless which continent they are voting from — whether it be Lin, or Magic Johnson who wasn’t even in the NBA at the time.

I do have a problem with the NBA’s voting system, however.

(1) The vote starts so early there is no WAY fans are voting on this season’s performance. All they can do is vote on previous years’ reputation.

(2) The NBA’s “vote each day” system pretty much makes grown ups with real things to do with their time voiceless in the vote, as the vote will go to whomever fanatics (as opposed to fans) stuff the ballot box with.

[…] is that it doesn’t match his game. Lin, to his credit, is honest enough to acknowledge that he doesn’t deserve the votes he has gotten this season in All-Star balloting. At last count, Chris Paul only led Jeremy Lin by about 46,000 […]

“Give credit where credit is due” That happens at the end of every season with awards (and playoff wins!). All-Star game is a popularity contest. It’s simply for who is most popular, and sometimes the most popular players are not the best players. You (nor I) can’t tell another fan who THEY want to see in the All-Star game, because each fan will have their own favorite player. It’s one way for fans to show support to their favorite players. Shoot, I STILL vote for Grant Hill. Now if they go out and give Lin or Hill the MVP, then that’s a different story.

Its also a dunk contest where everybody throws the word “Defense” out the window, I don’t even find it fun to watch. Almost every player would much rather be in an All-NBA team or win an award like MVP, not be an All-Star.

Lin is humble and he is self aware. Whether he is good enough only time will tell. Kobe said Lin did not just pop up from nowhere. All player with that ability needs hardwork and dedication. Being armchair critics is ok as long as it is not too personal. Bet all of you who said he doesn’t deserve it can’t even play close to half his ability. That’s why none of you are in NBA. Be courteous and respectful. Lin is not MJ, Lebron or Kobe, but for a player barely having less than 2 full season, he can only improve. Whether he starts in Allstar, let the fans decide. If you want to see your player play, stop whining and start voting.

There should be a mixed vote, where fans get a certain %, the players and coaches get a certain % and the beat writers get a certain %. That would fix the ballot box stuffing for a popular but undeserving player.

I like Lin. I think he has the potential to compete at an all star level. Linsanity happened when New York had no other options when his number was called he delivered what I’m sure was beyond expectations. He’s shown he can be dominant despite losing in his spectacular 38 point game against San Antonio, he just doesn’t have consistency and I think it has a lot to do with stars. Lin has shown he plays at his best when his team has their back against the wall, he needs to learn to compliment Harden, not take over for him, then maybe he’ll be all-star ready. But that’s definitely not this year. I still have great respect for him for his humility, perhaps he’s just too humble in a way that hurts him on the court. The boy can play, he knows it, he’s proven it so why can’t he do it every night?

if Lin is an All-Star starter, i’m not happy because Chris Paul deserves it and he’s the best point guard and MVP candidate. Secondly, there are many srtong guards such as James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Jamal Crawford, and Stephen Curry. that is enough that Jeremy Lin is NOT an All-Star starter NOR bench. who agree with me?

@Kevin. As a long time Rockets fan (almost 30 years) I agree with your comment – I just want Lin to show 3/4 of what he showed during Linsanity to help our team through this tough stretch of games – lots of road games against battle-hardened teams. Lin is a humble guy and I appreciate that – but it’s time to step up and play to the level that got him this contract. If he is lucky enough to be voted an all-star starter (a title even he rightfully says is undeserving of) then use that as inspiration to take your game to another level as well. Good luck Jeremy! GO ROCKETS!

hey, Lin’s story is a real American dream. average player (not even that) who can start at the all-star. if this happens, I quit with NBA. how many all star berths for example Drazen Petrovic (or Rod Strickland to be American oriented) deserved if Lin makes it? perhaps 20…

Jeremy Lin doesn’t deserve to be mentioned, no more than a role player, I’m tired of this commercial bubble.
The only thin he can do is being a good commercial strategy for the asian market. On the floor is one of the most overrated player I’ve ever seen, please don’t compare Jeremy Lin to CP3…like to compare pollution to platinum…..

Are Americans allowed to vote for All-stars for the Chinese league? I know the Chinese fan base brings in some money for Stern and the league but for them to decide who plays in an American All-star game just isn’t fair. I think foreign players (or those of foreign decent) should have the same opportunity to play but it should be the American fans that decide.

Why? Because an American vote is worth more than a foreign vote? Don’t get me wrong, I understand the frustration, I really do. But I still don’t agree with your statement that American fans are more important than foreign fans (of which there are probably more).

all star starter is about popularity and i wouldnt be surprised if lin be voted as a allstar all asians will vote for him not cos of his skills but cos hes asian. Remeber theres like 1 billiion ppl in china. Thats what got yao ming in the all star game in his rookie year.

No need to worry if Lin gets the start over CP3. Lin’s a genuine individual and if he wins the vote from the fans, he will kindly decline the offer and hand it over to the 2nd leading vote getter which in this case would be cp3.

Hardly the tone of an all star is correct, but it is the tone of a veteran player mentality wise. He knows what he’s capable of and knows he should improve. For a third year player in the NBA (he’s really only played 2 legitimately considering his rookie year in Golden State was mostly spent in garbage time) his maturity and self awareness is impressive.

I think Lin should do what Yao did and pull out of the ballot if he is elected starter if he truly feels that he doesn’t deserve the All Star nod

Also a good point Kobedirkrondolinmopetersonwhateveryournameis. This is the all star game. It’s not the All-NBA 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams. And I personally want an exciting all-star game. So, if it were up to me, Bye bye Dirk, Timmy, Marc & Pau Gasol, Chris Bosh, and Paul Pierce. And hello to not quite as acclaimed or even quite as good, but more exciting players like Paul George, J.R. Smith, Deandre Jordan, Jamal Crawford, Damian Lillard, Rajon Rondo, Kyrie Irving, and even JaVale McGee. those other guys will get their all-NBA 1st, 2nd, or 3rd teams if they’re deserving anyway.

Oh, and Andre Iguodala, Josh Smith, and Kenneth Faried. These are the kind of guys I’d rather see in the All Star Game anyway. Oh, bye bye Al Horford, too. He’s good, but what the heck’s he gonna do in the all star game? Flash his blue collar, mostly below the rim game?

What is being an all star starter mean? Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant will be starters but their team aren’t even winning. Traditionally, coaches have given allsar spots to good player on winning team over great players on losing teams. What is being an all star starter mean? It means the fan get to choose their favorites so that fans are still interested in NBA and will be willing to fork over money to the NBA to make all the owners and stockowners happy. That is why fans vote. So the NBA is a marketable product.

JLin, I don’t care if you deserve it or not… But you need to play with confidence. You look so lost and hesitant at times and it’s pissing me off. Play like you deserve to be an All-Star. Show everyone that Linsanity wasn’t just a fluke. You have the physical abilities to do so. Get your head in the game. Play with more confidence more swagger, a big ego, whatever it takes. I know you can do it. Just gotta believe in yaself and play like you deserve to be great.

Somehow the All-Star game starters nowadays are not necessarily the best, though personally i believe they should be the best performers during the 1st half of the season. I couldn’t blame people voting for Lin as starter since this has been the format of voting. Probably, the NBA could reverse the situation, the 5 starters and 2 reserves should be based on performance and the players and coaches pick. The last 5 could be based on fan voting. As regards to Lin and the all-star game, personally it’s ok with me for him being there. He is still a star (performance-wise though not all-star). Well, i believe there will be changes if and ever JLin makes it as the starter.

the olny reason why Lin might make the all star game is due to the population of asia. Asian votes should be capped cause theres like a billion of them, and they will all vote for Lin and his teammate Harden. Kind of like Yao and Tmac. Granted Harden defenitely deserves an allstar spot, Lin would not even make an Allstar B team. Consider these names: Kobe, CP3, Westbrook, Steph Curry, Tony Parker, Harden. I would even have O.J Mayo ahead of him. J Lin will never be an allstar. He is simply an under dog, and everyone roots for the under dog.

I never voted for Lin. I never really liked him. But what do you mean there’s a billion Asians? Do you mean Chinese? Actually, there’s like over a billion Chinese and about a billion Indians not the mention Asians from other countries. Even Israel is in Asia which makes me wonder why FIBA has them in the European bracket. did you even study geography? I’m appalled how many narrow-minded people there are here. Like those people calling NBA championship the world championship. It is not. Though many from around the world aspire to enter the NBA, international players make up less than half the NBA making it a poor representation of the world. A lot of them are among the best in the world but there still elite talent that aren’t playing in the NBA. In this age of information and networking, it’s a wonder why people know so little of the world they live in.

Dwight – Your right on the “world championship” garbage. And there are elite players that don’t play in the NBA. I would want to live in many places besides America. Buuut, since I agree with you, let’s make the fan voting only for American voters since the NBA, and it’s resulting championship, ARE AMERICAN! The NBA should make-up another all-star game. Let’s just cancel that stupid celebrity format and have a second game, that I wouldn’t have to care to miss. Hmmm, let’s see…we could put Jlin, Nate Robinson, Andris Biedris, and other novelties/underperformers, for people that don’t want to see the best-of-the-best play.

I’d say the starters were deserving last year, though you could debate a little. Based on individual performance and success of their team, I think the starters were pretty much right though. The only time it’s an issue is when Yao got the start over Shaq or something like that. Or Jeremy Lin. Or those couple years when T-Mac and A.I. were getting so many votes having played little to no games.

Why? It will make it a little more fun for me (no, I’m not Asian) because I’ll get Lin instead of probably Tony Parker who I’m really not that interested in. I will still get Chris Paul.

I don’t mind Lin missing out, either. He definitely hasn’t earned the spot yet. However, this is exactly why the league gives the fans the vote – for exactly this. The fans job is not to pick the West’s best PG.

If Lin is elected, I won’t be bemoaning the idea that fan voting is broken. On the contrary, I’ll be celebrating the fact that it achieved exactly what it was supposed to. I have been voting Lin every day, and not because he deserves it or earned it, but because I like to watch Lin play.

I’m not saying watching Lin play isn’t fun And I’m not saying anything bad about the fan voting but you need to give credit where credit is due and CP3 is a MVP Canadate he deserves to start he’s leading a team who’s been sub .500 for most of its exsistance and now it’s a team who was undefeated last month and is 30-9

It will not be fun to watch if Lin is there because he is honestly one of the worst players i have ever seen called a “star”. Maybe he would be a serviceable back up but nothing more. The only reason he is even close to being named an all star is because all the people in Asia are voting him in since he is the only Chinese player they know of. He hasn’t deserved it this year or any other year he has been in the league. Even when “Linsanity” broke out he was just mediocre with about 5-10 solid games. All the guards mentioned in this article that will get snubbed are far more deserving than Jeremy Lin

Other than Yao Ming, there are 2 other Asian player that have entered the NBA, but aren’t well known. Yi Jianlian was drafted 6th in 2007 Bucks, and yet, he didn’t get mentioned. Sun Yue 2007 2nd round draft 40 pick Lakers, and that is a big city, yet he didn’t mentioned. That’s because they are Asian, Asian people aren’t going to vote for them if they haven’t played up to par.

Sorry but “asian” people will not be voting for him. Chinese and Taiwanese people will be voting for him. There are 1.4 BILLION people in China and Taiwan, yet Lin only has about 600,000 votes.
Doing the math, only .04% of the Chinese and Taiwanese are voting for him.

However I’m sure not all of the votes he’s getting are from “asians”. I am half “asian” so perhaps my “European” side voted because I didn’t vote for Lin.
But then don’t forget to consider all the votes that Chris Paul is getting based on the “African” voting.